Cerveteri. Father of Sophie, 9, evicted from bathing establishment due to dispute with neighbour. Appeal lodged by the girl’s parents set to be heard on 12 September

di Fabrizio Caccia

“Do you know that I can speak Chinese? Honest!”, Sophie told the Pope last Friday, when he was visiting the Sant’Alessio institute for the blind in Rome. And to prove it, as she caressed him in an image which has gone viral, the girl also said to him “Hi, how are you?” in the Mandarin she had learned at school from her classmates, children of parents from Guangdong, now perfectly integrated. Sophie Gallo, 9 years old, blind from birth, is in the fourth year of junior school in Campo di Mare, a suburb of Cerveteri, where her father Massimo, from a family with a long history as fishermen, ran a bathing establishment with his English wife Charmain until 10 December 2015. Ocean Surf Beach, in perfect Polynesian style, has a giant stone tiki to welcome visitors, but since that fateful day, the family’s dreams have faded and the establishment has been invaded by mould.

The story That morning, the bailiff arrived with carabinieri to cordon off the area, after the court of Civitavecchia had ruled that most of the land fell within the property of the neighbour, the company Ostilia, part of the Bonifaci group. This was possible because, incredibly, the line separating public and private land in Campo di Mare cuts the beach in half, and over the years has been the source of countless disputes. A case in point is the ongoing legal battle between Ostilia and Ocean Surf, in which the hearing at the Court of Appeal is scheduled for 12 September. Sophie’s father, meanwhile, having lost his income from the beach establishment, is back at sea, and yesterday was heading towards the island of Giannutri in search of dentex and bream, in his boat “Gallo Pesca”.

“It was safe for her” “That beach meant a great deal to Sophie,” her father recounted on the phone. “It was safe, but also somewhere she could play with her visually impaired friends from the Sant’Alessio institute who came to visit.” Her mother added: “Now she no longer has the beach, on Sunday we visit the other children at home; the last time we went to see Leonardo, who has a beautiful garden in Palombara Sabina opposite Sophie’s grandparents’ house”. The sea is very important for Sophie: “A unique fund of information”, her mother called it. Fortunately, she is a brave girl, and does not let her disability limit her, practicing a wide range of sports, from judo and water skiing to athletics and surfing, as well as riding a bike and skateboarding. She also trusts the world and other people, in spite of everything. “I’m really offended,” said Massimo Gallo, 50. “I, who was a carabiniere in my youth in Palermo, working alongside Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, saw 60 carabinieri turn up to take away from me a place that is a part of my life, where my family had been pulling up their boats on the shore since 1947. What’s more, we are talking about a state-owned stretch of beach, for which I will continue to pay concession fees until 2020. Nevertheless, the courts ruled in favour of Ostilia. On one occasion I was even threatened at gunpoint by a group of hoodies. But the mayor of Cerveteri has never defended me.” The mayor, Alessio Pascucci, was quick to respond: “I believe that Mr. Gallo is morally right, because that place is part of his life, and he has worked there for 30 years. However, the line separating public and private land exists, and I have done everything I can, sadly in vain, to have it moved back by the Harbour Office: it’s scandalous that the state only owns half the beach. Under his licence, Mr Gallo could still use the part of the beach bordering the sea, but it’s not the same thing, and it’s not what he wants. I managed to get Ostilia to grant him free use for four years, until the expiry of his concession, but he also rejected this solution. I hope that eventually the court will rule in his favour”.